Fire-extinguishing apparatus



w. H. FREYGANG FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Filed July 10, l1925 ilatented @lune 19, l.

narran stares 'WALTER E. FREYGNG, OF WEEHAWKEN, NEW JERSEY, SSIONOR TO WALTER KIDDE & COMPANY, INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

. FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS.

Application filed July 10 This invention relates to lire extinguishing apparatus of the general character of that showno in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,335,394, dated Maich 30, 1920,- in which a fire extinguishing gas, or .liquid or solid particles thereof, or a mixture of' gas, liquid and solid, is discharged upon the iire to be extinguished. ing agent commonly and preferably used for the purpose is for example carbonio acid which is supplied from containers in which it is stored in liquid form under great pressure and from which it is conducted through suitable. pipes to the place of use. Government regulations require every such container to be provided at its outlet with 'a check or stop, usually a relatively thin disc of meta1,`which will be ruptured u1ider excessive pressure,l the purposev being to release the contents when, from any cause, Vthe pressure in the container exceeds a given pressure, measured by the resistanceof the 'disc. It is desirable, of course, that the lire extinguishing agent be discharged upon the fire immediately and in ample volume upon the' fire and delay incident the discovery of to /the opening of a valve is undesirable.

It is therefore the object of the present in' vention to provide means whereby such disc can be ruptured in such manner as to permit theninstant and free How of the fire extinguishing medium' and preferably from the control station, such means being also preferably capable of effective operation at one time for a plurality of containers, such as are commonly connected to the pipe sys-y tem. rlhe'invention will be more fully ex- 4plained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which it is illustrated and in which- Figure 1 is a view, partly L.broken away and part-ly in section, showing a plurality of containers connected Ito a delivery system.

Figure 2 is a view in elevation, from a point of View at right angles to that 'of F1gure l, showing a single container with the disc rupturing device applied.

Figure 3 is a a larger scale construction of the disc rupturing device which is indicated in Figures l and 2.

In fire extinguishing apparatus of theA general character referred to, several concharged with a re extinguishing tainers a, l

may or may not be partially agent, which The fire extinguish-V detail view in .section and onl showing more -particularly A the 1925. serial 110.42310.-

liquefied and which is under pressure, are

connected through branch pipes b with 'a pipe l example, as indicated at e, to a threaded nipple r2 of the coupling member a and is held to its seat by a coupling f to which is' secured a T-coupling f which carries the disc breaking vdevice and is conencted, as by a coupling f2, with thevbranch delivery pipe I). 'lhe lcoupling f is suitably chambered as at f'Gfor a puipose'to be'described an is threaded as at' f3, with a quick thread and is also threaded, as at f4 to receive a stuffing '.box gland f5. A spindle g, threaded as at g for co-action with the quick thread f3, carries at itsi-nner end a thin tubular cut ter g2, which is suitably shaped, as at g3, to

cut out the central `portion of the lstop ve when pressed against it and is also l,formed with ports g4, some-of which are at all times in communication with the chamber f formed about the cutter. 'lhe cut out poi-- tion of the stop is :driven by the fire extinguishing agent into the tubular cutter beyond the' port, thereby permitting the instantaneous and free iow of the agent through the unrestricted .bore of the tubular cutter from the container a. to the branch pipe bcwhen the stop e has been ruptured. It will be yobserved that the wall of the tubular cutter is relatively thin and that the cutter is of a size to cause the -stop ev to be cut out practically to the full diameter ofthe vchambered coupling and the free flow areoperated simultaneously through a conl 0 As shown, the.'

nectionof all of the arms h to the operating .member ha. Thereby, upon discovery of lfire, all of the safety stops or discs e can be ruptured simultaneously' and the fire eX- tinguishing agent from all of the containers be admitted to the pipe system and dis- 'charged immediately upon the lire.

It will be observed that some of the portsg in the cutter g2 are at all times in commu'- nication With the chamber f which is formed in the coupling f about the cutter and With Which. the pipe b is in free communication.

. The cutter therefore does not act as a valve ".no pressure above atmospheric.

to prevent Vor permit the flow of the gas.

On the contrary, as soon as the disc e is cut out by the cutter, the cut-out portion is eX- posed on theone side. to the full pressure of the gas and on the other side is exposed to quently the cut-out portion of the disc is immediately blown back through the` cutter beyoud-the ports (/Mwithin the chamber f and thereby immediatev and full flow of the gas to the pipe -b is permitted. It is essential in the extinguishment of fires that the extinguishing gas\ be delivered practically instantaneously, that is`,' Within a very few-seconds, and this can vbe accomplished only when the delivery passage is continuously and permanently in communication with the inte-V riorA of the hollow tubular cutter and when A the severed portion ofj thedisc e is completely severed and blown through the `cutter beyond the point at which it might imL pede theflow of gas.

Itwill appear, to 4one lskilled in the art that if the pipe system is closed at the discharge end 'pressure may be established in the pipe system to counter-balance the pressurein the container 4whereby thefdisc may be made of thinner material than a disc designed to withstand' the full pressure of the container, andupon the reliefl f the pressure4 in the' pipe system the 'isc may be ruptured by the now excessive pressure in- Conse- -said tubular end and tuate the spindle.

fire immediately uponthe discovery of the an fire and delay incident to the rupturing, of the stop disc by pressureas just descried, or by the openmg of a seated valve, as. has

Ybeen the practice, is believed to render such -devices less desirable than the other embodiment illustrated and described herein.

AIt will beunderstood that various changes in details of construction can be made to suit different conditions of use` and that, ex-

cept as pointed out in the claim, the invention is not limited to the particular construction shown and described herein.

I claim as my invention: I In an apparatus for extinguishing fire by a fire extinguishing agent under pressure and comprising a container and a delivery passage, the combination of `a chambered coupling member interposed between the container andthe delivery passage and in communication with said passage and contamer, a frangible disc interposed between the container and said coupling member, a spindle carried by the coupling member and having a`tubular cutter Within the coupling witha port continuously and permanentlyjs I in communication with the chamber thereof and the delivery 'passage and movable -through actuation-of the spindle to cut out the central portion of the frangible disc and permit it to'be driven, by the pressure of the a0 agent in the container, Within the cutter beyond the port to establish free and unrestrcted communication from the container to the delivery passage throu h the bore of This. specification signed this 3rd )da of Tuly, A. D. 192.5. j y

'I .WALTER H. FREYGANG.

port,`.an means to 'ac- 85 

